Our friend Austin from EUC wrote in to help spread the word on a fundraiser being put together by Dave Seeley and a number of other artists in order to support a fellow artist friend in need...

"Illustrator Cyril Van Der Haegen, who briefly dabbled in the Star Wars universe by creating images for Ultimate Adversaries, a Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement, is battling a life-threatening cancer. Dave Seeley (artist for covers like Riptide and Crosscurrent), along with other artists, is putting together an art auction to raise funds for Cyril. Seeley is donating the original art used for the cover of Star Wars: Riptide."

"As you can imagine, Cyril is also fighting to keep his spirits up. As is the case with many artists, Cyril is self-employed and uninsured. Fortunately, he is able to work, and has qualified for very low-cost medical assistance from a good local hospital. We are organizing this auction as a way to help him deal with the uncovered costs, as well as his living expenses while he undergoes treatment. It's our hope that a strong response to this effort will help bolster his spirits as well as his finances.

The plan is to run an auction over the span of San Diego Comic Con, July 11-15th, with a parallel auction on eBay ending on Saturday July 14th. The original art will be on display at Dave Seeley's booth: 4600. The eBay auctions will begin on July 4th. Winners could pick up their winnings on Sunday July 15th, at Comicon, or have them shipped."

Click here for more details, information on the contributing artists, previews of submitted artwork and more on Cyril's condition. You can also visit the auction's Facebook page here.

We wish Cyril all the best and applaud this coalition of artists for their efforts on his behalf.